Sculpted to Inspire: Caleb Tillinghast

Caleb Tillinghast was born on April 3, 1843. When he was a child, the family moved to Windham County, Connecticut where Caleb worked on a farm when he was not attending the rural school. He walked five miles on Saturdays to get books from an association library to augment the instruction in the school room. His ancestors were Quakers.

At one time he held the office of school visitor in the town of Killingly, Connecticut. Similar to a school committee member, his job was to make rules and buy books. He held other minor offices. On Aug. 10, 1862 he married Ardelia Martin Wood. Their son, Linwood Morton Tillinghast, was born on July 4, 1865. In the spring of 1870, they moved to Boston, where Tillinghast found a position as a reporter on the Boston Journal. He soon rose to the position of editor.

In 1849, the legislature passed an act that made the Secretary of the Board of Education the State Librarian with the power to appoint an assistant librarian and clerk. This changed in 1893 when the legislature passed a statute that allowed the Governor to make the appointment of the Librarian. Tillinghast was appointed acting librarian by John W. Dickinson, who was secretary of the State Board of Education and State Librarian. In 1893, Governor Russell appointed Tillinghast State Librarian when the Office of the State Librarian was created.

Tillinghast was interested in methods of instruction for the "deaf, blind and feeble minded" and that those in country towns desiring to become teachers receive a suitable teacher's education. He had many friends who inspired him to belong to many societies including the Worcester Antiquarian Society, American Antiquarian Society, Old Colony Historical Society, Boston Art Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the General Theological Library and the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Club.

He also devoted time to the New England Historic Genealogical Society. As Vice-President for Massachusetts and chairman of the Committee on Publications, he encouraged plans to develop the Society's usefulness.

One passion of his was to search for biographical materials for the members of Massachusetts state government. He estimated he had written more than 75,000 letters in this quest. This collection of index cards in the State Library is known as the Legislative Biographical file.

His main interests were promoting education, creating libraries and advising officials in many subject areas. He received only a salary as a librarian even though he was offered other library jobs that paid better, such as the head of the Boston Public Library. He received an honorary degree of Master of Arts from Harvard University in June, 1897 and a Doctor of Literature from Tufts College in 1905.

Come view the sculpture of the state's first State Librarian in the main reading room, room 341, through April 15, 2011.

The Sculpted to Inspire series is sponsored by the Friends of the State Library.

Sculpted to Inspire: Caleb Tillinghast

FROM NEWSPAPERS TO BOOKS!

What city editor of the Boston Journal became the first State Librarian?

Caleb B. Tillinghast was the Acting State Librarian starting in 1879.
In 1893 the Office of the State Librarian was created.
Mr. Tillinghast was appointed.

Please visit the Library in room 341 between
March 7, 2011-April 15, 2011
to see the State Library’s first State Librarian.

The “Sculpted to Inspire” series is sponsored by the Friends of the State Library.

Sculpted to Inspire: Arthur Buckminster Fuller

Arthur Buckminster Fuller (August 10, 1822 - December 11, 1862) was a Unitarian Clergyman who believed in liberal reforms. He was born in Boston, the child of Congressman Timothy Fuller, Jr. and Margaret Crane.

At the age of twelve, he spent one year at Leicester Academy and then studied with Mrs. Ripley, the wife of Rev. Samuel Ripley, of Waltham. His older sister Margaret helped raise him after his father died of cholera in 1835. She made certain Arthur received a proper education in Greek, Latin, literature, science and mathematics. In August, 1839 he entered Harvard College at the age of seventeen and graduated in 1843.

Fuller traveled to Illinois to run an academy but closed it 18 months later due to ill health. Between 1845 and 1847 he attended Harvard College of Divinity where he received his degree. Fuller preached in various churches including the Unitarian Church of Watertown, the New North Church of Boston, and the Unitarian Society of Manchester, New Hampshire.

He was selected by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1854 to serve as their chaplain and in 1858 by the Massachusetts Senate to act as theirs. In 1857 he was nominated by the Republicans of Suffolk District No. 2 for the Massachusetts Senate but did not win the election since there were other candidates from his party in that district.

Fuller worked to advance a number of issues. He was active in the temperance and abolitionist movements and endorsed women pursuing a professional career. His belief in a free public education was shown by his serving on the Boston school board.

At the onset of the Civil War, Fuller resigned as a pastor in Watertown, MA to join the Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. When the Sixteenth Regiment went into battle in June, 1862, he participated on the battlefield as a chaplain with prayers and encouragement. After this he became so weak and ill that he returned to Massachusetts. He came back in October, 1862 but was soon declared unfit for service.

Fuller returned once again to give his farewell address on December 7, 1862 and was honorably discharged on December 10, 1862. The next morning as his own regiment was preparing to attack Fredericksburg, VA, he volunteered to go with the Nineteenth Regiment. Wearing the uniform of a staff officer, he was a special mark for the sharpshooters. Fuller crossed the river in a boat to join the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment on the other side. A few minutes later, he was shot dead after having only fired a few shots. It was speculated that Fuller risked his life to accompany the Nineteenth Massachusetts, because he believed the men deserved to have a chaplain by their side as they fought. The Nineteenth's chaplain had fled some time ago.

The Governor of Massachusetts attended his funeral where ministers of several faiths eulogized him. Among them was James Freemen Clarke who declared that "Arthur Fuller was, like most of us, a lover of peace, but he saw, as we have had to see, that sometimes true peace can only come through war…. Fuller served ordinary folk and related far better to farmers, artisans, shopkeepers, laborers and soldiers than he did to the intellectuals who preserved his sister's memory.”* He is buried in Mt Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

His grandson is R. Buckminster Fuller, a philosopher, mathematician and the inventor who invented the geodesic dome composed of triangular shaped spheres and coined the phrase “Spaceship Earth.”

His statue was given to the state in 1863 and is on view in the State Library's main reading room (Room 341) through February 18.

* Unitarian Universalist Association. “Arthur Buckminster Fuller” http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/arthurbuckminsterfuller.html (accessed December 30, 2010)

Sculpted to Inspire: John Davis Long

This sculpture of John Davis Long by Pierre Millet is the featured piece of art work in the Library's Main Reading Room through Dec. 24.

Long was born October 27, 1838 in Buckfield, ME, which was then part of Massachusetts. He attended the common schools of Buckfield and Hebron Academy in Maine. In 1857 he graduated from Harvard University at the age of 19. For the next two years, he taught school and was the principal at Westford Academy.

Long studied law at Harvard Law School from 1860 to 1861 and in the private law offices of Sidney Bartlett, dividing his time between Boston and Maine. Admitted to the bar in 1861, he began practicing law in Buckfield, ME. In 1863 he moved to Boston and, in 1869, to Hingham.

He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1875 to 1878, serving as Speaker from 1876 to 1878. In 1879 he advanced to the office of Lieutenant Governor. Long was elected Governor on the Republican ticket and served from 1880 to1882 after winning by an overwhelming majority. During his term, Long shrank state government, reduced taxes on mortgages and local shipping, and opposed the Commonwealth’s capital punishment laws. He supported women’s suffrage and, as a lifelong abstainer of alcohol, advocated temperance legislation.

His political career continued in the U.S. Congress from March 1883 until March 1889 when he resigned to devote himself to the legal profession. Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt appointed him to serve in their Cabinets as Secretary of the Navy; he held this position from March 5, 1897 until May 1, 1902 leaving once again to resume his law practice.

Long delivered a speech to the men’s club at North Abington’s church after he retired from active life. This speech, noted in an Aug. 29, 1915 Boston Herald article, summarizes his simple philosophy. “Wealth alone does not make a man happy. It is not a necessity. The man with a dime in his pocket can be just as happy as the man with his pockets filled with golden coins.” As a member of the Unitarian Church, he believed in peace even though he was Secretary of the Navy during the Spanish American War.

Known to be prolific writer, he published a volume of poems entitled Bites of a Cherry, a memoir Reminiscences of my Seventy Years’ Education, and a treatise about the Navy in 1903 entitled The New American Navy. While serving as Lt. Governor, he translated Virgil’s Aeneid. He was President of the Overseers of Harvard University and the Authors’ Club of Boston. Long died in Hingham on August 28, 1915 and is buried in Hingham Cemetery.

His books:

America of Yesterday, as Reflected in the Journal of John Davis Long

Bites of a Cherry

The New American Navy

Reminiscences of My Seventy Years’ Education

The Republican Party: its History, Principles and Policies. He was the editor of this volume of articles by leading U.S. Senators and Representatives. 

Sculpted to Inspire: John Davis Long

Who was the 32nd Governor of Massachusetts

and

the 34th United States Secretary of the Navy
and

represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives
from the 2nd District in the late 1800’s?

JOHN DAVIS LONG

Please visit the State Library in Room 341 between
November 15 and December 24, 2010
to see the sculpture of this former Governor.

The “Sculpted to Inspire” series is sponsored by the
Friends of the State Library.

Sculpted to Inspire: George Frisbie Hoar

Do you know who George Frisbie Hoar is?

Do you know why his birthday is significant?

George Frisbie Hoar was born in Concord in 1826,

the same year the State Library was founded.

Please visit the Library in Room 341 between October 4 and November 12, 2010 to see the sculpture of George Frisbie Hoar.

The “Sculpted to Inspire” series is sponsored by the Friends of the State Library.